The room was too clean. Too perfect. I didn’t trust it. I needed answers and I would bet they could be found behind that cabinet’s thick sheet of glass.
“Well, Tarik Hail, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find you in here.”
That voice.
Ice froze the blood in my veins. I whirled to find Mordecai standing in the doorway. A dark head peeked over his shoulder. Jocelyn. My heart pumped double time. I should have known she’d run off to her boss after my probing questions. They’d caught me red-handed. I couldn’t talk my way out of this one.
Even as a tremor worked its way through me, I strolled over to an exam table and sat, white paper crinkling as I settled in. Might as well be comfortable if I was about to get fired.
Mordecai said something to Jocelyn, who scampered off to do his bidding, then stepped inside the room and closed the door, locking us inside with a soft snick. Despite my efforts to play cool, my pulse thundered. I was alone in a room with the Great Dragon, the man who made our Fae existence hell.
My hands curled into fists where they rested on my thighs.
“I knew you were going to be more trouble than you’re worth,” he said, tucking tattooed hands out of sight as his arms crossed over a barrel chest. His human size was intimidating—I couldn’t imagine how big his dragon form was. But in all my years trapped in this city, I’d never once seen him shift. Had never seen a massive dragon darkening the sky. Alec didn’t count. His dragon was puny.
I shrugged. “Then why did you hire me?”
His upper lip curled, pulling at the jagged scar running across the left side of his face. Scary. I was glad I’d relieved myself a few minutes ago. “Because I need you. Only Fae can work this job. Strong Fae, like you. Unless . . . Jocelyn informs me that you’re sick? Maybe I don’t need you after all.”
My spine stiffened. He wanted me to beg. I could see the command in those mocking blue eyes. His lips tipped up. Checkmate. Everything in me rebelled at the thought of pandering to this slave-driver, but an image of Haven, broken on the ground, held my tongue. I swallowed the retort that wanted nothing more than to punch this man’s face. “No, sir,” I said. “Ate a bad burrito for lunch is all. It upset my stomach.”
His nostrils flared as he took a step closer. Only an exam table separated us now. “Regardless, you were caught for the second time entering a room strictly off limits. This can’t go unpunished.” He paused, studying me. My skin felt too tight, like I’d spent the whole day baking under a sweltering sun. “I doubt you’d respond well to my preferred methods, so I tell you what. Step out of line one more time, one more time, and Reagan pays the price.”
My head spun as those words sucked all the oxygen out of the room. If I wasn’t sitting down, I might have fallen from abject shock at his threat. This guy was pure evil incarnate. The words on my tongue were boiling hot. I couldn’t control them. I couldn’t stop them. “What, you don’t think one brand is enough? Does she need a twin on the other side of her neck?”
I’d done it now. Maybe I was imagining the fine wisps of smoke puffing from his ears. Lightning quick, he grabbed the exam table and flipped the whole thing in the air. Metal clanged against white tile as he stalked toward me, stopping only when his nose was almost pressed to mine. “The first thing I’ll do is cut Reagan’s tongue out. Maybe that’ll shut you up.”
The vile threat stomped my rage to a sputtering ember, then tossed buckets of ice water over any lingering heat. I lowered my eyes in a show of submission, even as my knuckles bled white. “You don’t have to do that. I won’t give you any more trouble.”
He quickly straightened, adjusting his suit jacket in short, jerky movements. I peeked at his face, and wished I hadn’t. Victory, his expression gloated. “See that you don’t. I know your routine, Tarik. The places you haunt, the people you see. One more foul word out of that mouth, and I’ll show you what misery is.”
I didn’t respond. Couldn’t.
“Now get back to work. I’ll see that half an hour’s pay is docked from your wages.”
Head still lowered, I slid off the table and left the room without a sound.
—
Gaia.
The miserable day wasn’t done yet.
Now there was rain and the smell of overflowing sewage as I dodged muddy potholes and bags of garbage tossed into the streets. But I could see home. Only a few minutes more of this mess and I could sleep my troubles away.
What I wouldn’t give for a stiff drink right now. The Pit was the last place I should be seen at, though. Mordecai was watching me. One false move and—
“Well, you look like crap.”
Without turning, I knew she was behind me. I had memorized her low, gravelly voice. My heart skipped a beat and I inwardly cursed at the stupid thing. “Slogging through the rain for three miles will do that to a person. Even Jocelyn.”
“It helps that she spends an obscene amount of time primping in the mansion bathrooms. Go into any one of them and there she is.”
I snorted. “Yeah. There she is.” I peered over at Reagan’s soaked form and tried not to notice how good she looked. “Are we gonna discuss Jocelyn some more or did you have another reason for being here?”
“How was
